One for the road

A weekend. You. Poorly you. Recovering from a cold that had you struggling to stay awake beyond ten o’clock on a Saturday night. A wild game of Monopoly accompanied by, wait, NO WINE. You couldn’t face it.

Sunday morning. A dose of night nurse and a good night sleep had you feeling better but still far from 100%. An easy Sunday morning and a fresh dog walk in the sunshine bumped this up a notch but still you were nowhere near your whole healthy self.

A birthday. A birthday of a good friend brought you to the pub. You had said you weren’t planning on drinking much because you didn’t think it would help with your cold so you would probably opt for a nice Irish coffee. Show your face for a drink, a caffeinated drink with a little kick, and wish your friend a “Happy Birthday” then leave. How sensible is that?

4 o’clock. Gin number 3. Still not drunk but well on the way and what happened to your cold?

5 o’clock. Heading elsewhere. “You’re coming to the house to drink some more of what you don’t need aren’t you?” Of course you were. But just for one. Really truly honesty, just for one.

A few hours later and certainly having consumed more than “just the one”. Gin number 7. Dancing on the kitchen floor, forgotten you were ever feeling rough and not even considering the morning.

The road. Oh that famous, ever lengthening road. Just as you’re ready to leave, your coat is in sight and you’ve located your shoes, someone comes up with the bright idea of having one more alcoholic beverage “for the road”.

I’m telling you from experience, that road is the world’s longest road.

The hangover. Just about getting up ready to face the day. Crawling away from your heavy covers to your beauty parlor to help make you look better than you feel.

Work. The struggle but the unhelpful knowledge that it is entirely your fault, completely self inflicted and the thoughts about not drinking again. Definitely not drinking that evening. Perhaps not all week. In fact, right now the thought of alcohol makes you want to vomit.

The videos. The footage comes to haunt you. Photographs and video clips reminding you of how drunk you were, how stupid you were being and how awful your are at singing, luckily the clips don’t show your dancing. Clips that you don’t remember taking.

Never again. Never again.

Next time. Despite declaring yourself teetotal and vowing never to drink another Gin & Tonic, you find yourself back on it eight hours later, consuming Sauvignon Blanc with a friend. Here comes that almighty road. “Let’s just have one more for the road!”